"Sunderland AFC would like to apologise to those supporters who experienced issues entering the Stadium of Light today, ahead of the game against Charlton Athletic.

"A technical glitch with some of the bar-coded tickets and season cards meant that fans could not enter the stadium as quickly as usual. "Over 15,000 people were already in the stadium when the problem occurred, approximately 20 minutes prior to kick off. "Once we became aware of the issues, extra stewarding and police resources were immediately deployed around the stadium to assist with entry and communication, which resulted in over 10,000 supporters coming through the turnstiles in a 30-minute period.

"The vast majority of supporters had gained entry to stadium within 10 minutes after kick-off. "Naturally we know those supporters affected will be very disappointed to have missed kick off and we share in that disappointment. "We are sincerely sorry that we have encountered technical issues on the opening game of the season and assure our fans that we have done everything possible to rectify the issue swiftly and safely.

"Sunderland AFC would like to apologise to those supporters who experienced issues entering the Stadium of Light today, ahead of the game against Charlton Athletic.

"A technical glitch with some of the bar-coded tickets and season cards meant that fans could not enter the stadium as quickly as usual. "Over 15,000 people were already in the stadium when the problem occurred, approximately 20 minutes prior to kick off. "Once we became aware of the issues, extra stewarding and police resources were immediately deployed around the stadium to assist with entry and communication, which resulted in over 10,000 supporters coming through the turnstiles in a 30-minute period.

"The vast majority of supporters had gained entry to stadium within 10 minutes after kick-off. "Naturally we know those supporters affected will be very disappointed to have missed kick off and we share in that disappointment. "We are sincerely sorry that we have encountered technical issues on the opening game of the season and assure our fans that we have done everything possible to rectify the issue swiftly and safely.